Chevrolet's Coming For The Ford Focus RS

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Should Ford be worried?

As of right now, Ford is dominating the hot hatch segment with the Ford Focus ST and Fiesta ST. To make matters ever worse for other automakers, Ford’s incredible Focus RS will be coming out soon, which will surely cause a rift in the world of high-performance hatchbacks. It looks like Chevrolet wants a piece of the hot-hatch pie with a faster version of the Chevrolet Cruze. A hot hatch that can take on the likes of Ford sounds like a great thing to us.

In a recent conversation with Australia's CarAdvice at the Detroit Auto Show, Chevrolet executive vice president Alan Batey revealed that the automaker is interested in creating a more powerful version of the Cruze. “We’ve really positioned this as sporty, and to appeal to those young, fashion-conscious consumers that are looking for something in the compact segment,” stated Batey. Uhh, we can confidently state that a sporty hatchback would have to be more than just a fashion statement. Not to worry, because Batey would look into sharing engines between compact models. So far, it looks like Chevrolet doesn't have the right idea with a high-performance hatchback.

“This is a vehicle we’ve developed specifically to be sporty, to be stylish, and we think the hatchback philosophy delivers on that,” stated Batey. Unfortunately, while Ford has focused on creating hot hatchbacks that deliver on the performance side, Chevrolet is worried about the stylish side of the vehicle. If Chevrolet were to solely focus on the high-performance hatchback’s looks, it would be a failure. By the sound of it, we wouldn’t hold our breaths for Chevrolet’s answer to the Focus RS.